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A Russian space capsule carrying the Sochi Olympic torch and three astronauts has returned to Earth from the International Space Station this morning, landing in Kazakhstan.

Mission commander Yurchikhin was extracted from the capsule within about 10 minutes of touchdown and carried to a reclining chair, where he was put under a blanket against the cold and began adjusting to the pull of gravity after 166 days of weightlessness.

The torch, in a protective bag, was brought out and given to Yurchikhin to hold after it was unwrapped. He waved it a little and smiled.

The Soyuz spacecraft prepares to dock with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV

The "torch handover" space walk spectacle is planned for this Saturday, has added to the workload and scheduling requirements of the space station managers on the International Space Station as the station will have three crewed Soyuz ferry ships docked at the station at the same time.

According to NBC, this has only ever happened once before, four years ago, and after that experience a decision to never do it again was taken by authorities.

The Sochi Olympic torch has successfully blasted off into space on board a Soyuz rocket, ready to take its first space walk on the International Space Station.

Soyuz spacecraft, with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games logo, blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Russia. Credit: Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov

For safety reasons the torch will not be lit during the launch, but once on board the space station Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky are planning to take it outside the airlock, in what they described as a "spectacular" showcase for the Winter Games.

The Olympic torch has gone into space twice before, in 1996 and 2000, but it has never been taken on a space walk.